Replace anti-gay Pastor Louie Giglio for the benediction at the inauguration with a pro-LGBT member of the clergy.

On January 9th you announced that you had selected Pastor Louie Giglio to give the benediction at your second inaugural. According to Think Progress, Pastor Giglio, like Rick Warren, has delivered sermons urging Christians to fight against LGBT equality. Four years ago Rick Warren was unacceptable for doing that. Today, Giglio is.

There are many members of the clergy active in the cause of civil rights and who have long been on the front lines of the fight for LGBT equality. As we told your four years ago, selecting a Christian fundamentalist who has a record of anti-gay sermons is offensive and unnecessary.

Therefore, we call on you to replace Giglio and to select a member of the clergy with a history of supporting LGBT equality to give the benediction at your second inaugural.

NAPERVILLE, Ill., Jan. 9, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), offers the following resolutions for pro-family advocates opposing the "gay" and transgender agenda in 2013:

Get OFF the defense, and back on offense -- (get rid of that false guilt and incapacitating ambivalence; YOU are defending Truth; homosexual activists are promoting immorality, self-deception and lies).

Follow God and not man (shore up your biblical beliefs) -- do you fear God or the reaction of people?

Get back to the BEHAVIOR and its consequences (try Googling "MSM [men who have sex with men], CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], HIV" or "MSM, CDC, Syphilis").

Get off the opponents' playing field: it starts with restoring honest language in the debate. (e.g, counterfeit homosexual "marriage" is not equal to the real deal, so the "gay" term "Marriage Equality" is spurious).

[Related to #3] Think for yourself and don't rely on FOX News to defend the Truth on homosexuality (e.g., did you know that Bill O'Reilly has pretty much switched sides?).

Call out the liberal media and educational establishment on their routine pro-homosexual and anti-Christian bias.

Educate a libertarian -- on the clear and present threat that all pro-LGBT laws (including homosexual "marriage") pose to civil liberties and religious freedom.

Educate a pro-lifer about the threat of the far-reaching homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda (many pro-lifers are naive or ignorant about the homosexual agenda and its many parallels to their core concern).

Be a Happy Warrior and understand the big picture: defending Truth is VIRTUOUS, and besides: it's not our truth, it's God's (and don't play into our opponent's stereotype of Christians as self-righteous, angry prudes).

Patiently engage a young person on the "H" issue: are they entitled to reinvent centuries of Judeo-Christian tradition and teaching on love, relationships, family, and marriage? (Answer: no, but we first need to understand the cultural zeitgeist through which they view the world -- and the steady stream of LGBT misinformation they are imbibing -- before we can respond to it).

Reserve your greatest outrage for those who affirm homosexuality in the name of God (the "gay Christianity" movement is a sham and they must be held to a higher standard).

The New Year is often a time of positive change and transition in our lives and so it will be for me this year.

After more than 8 years as Executive Director of Family Equality Council, I am departing in March to accept a new position as Vice President of Alumnae Relations at my alma mater, Smith College.

It was a very difficult decision for me. I am so sad to say goodbye to an incredible organization that is backed by a dedicated board of directors, a talented and hard-working staff, supportive donors and most importantly, you and the more than 100,000 LGBT families and allies that make up this incredible organization.

But I leave knowing that Family Equality Council, and indeed the entire movement for LGBT rights, are in their strongest position in decades.

On a very personal note, I will leave Family Equality Council with the most incredible memories – from families sleeping out on the White House Ellipse to secure tickets to the first Easter Egg Roll we attended in 2006, to the story of a young girl from Puerto Rico with two moms who for the first time at Family Week had kids come to her birthday party, to the moment we watched the President bear witness to the power of our families and our lives as the reason for his change in support of marriage equality.

These moments have inspired and fueled me these eight years. They have brought countless moments of pride and optimism. They have carried me through dark times like the passage of Prop 8 in California when it seemed we had taken a monumental step backward in our fight for equality. I carry all of you with me as I embark on this next life journey. I carry you and your stories in my heart.

This past year as we marked the 30th anniversary of our organization, I was inspired by how far we have come.

When I began as executive director in April of 2005, our fledgling organization had a full-time staff of 3, a tiny office space and the most modest of budgets.

Today, a dedicated staff of 18 professionals working in four locations (Boston, D.C, Minnesota and Michigan) have helped us more than triple our annual budget during the last 5 years and have positioned this organization as the leading national advocate for LGBT families.

We did not and could not do this alone.

Because of your support, Family Equality Council is now:

-- The country’s most visible advocate for LGBT family rights with an effective policy team in Washington DC and at the state level, who champion dozens of laws and policies that support and protect you and your children.

-- The largest single provider of events, programs and services for LGBT parents and their children, with major annual events in New York and Los Angeles and dozens of community programs and gatherings serving our families across the country – including our signature Family Week, now in its 18th year.

-- The leading national voice on issues related to LGBT family equality - recognized for that expertise by both the national media and major policy-makers.

Together we have so much to be proud about. But the work is not yet complete. The next visionary leader will have a great opportunity to build on the momentum of the last few years and help our families secure important rights including national marriage equality, full parental rights and protections, humane and inclusive immigration laws, employment non-discrimination laws and safer schools.

That person will not be able to it alone.

They will need you and your unyielding support. With that I am confident that they will be able to guide this organization forward in our fight for full equality.

An executive search committee, comprised of past and present board leaders, has already begun the search process and over the next few months, they will be working to recruit the next leader who will take Family Equality Council to even greater levels of success.

Although my tenure is coming to a close, my ties to Family Equality Council will always remain strong. I’ll be joining our West Coast families in early February at our annual Los Angeles awards dinner, and Family Week in Provincetown has become so important to my children that it will always be part of our summer traditions.

On behalf of my spouse, Cheryl, my twins, Tim and Tom, and baby Matthew, thank you for making us part of your family and thank you for being a part of Family Equality Council.

BY BRETT ZONGKER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The Washington National Cathedral, where the nation gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents, will soon begin hosting same-sex marriages.

Cathedral officials tell The Associated Press the church will be among the first Episcopal congregations to implement a new rite of marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members. The church will announce its new policy Wednesday.

As the nation's most prominent church, the decision carries huge symbolism. The 106-year-old cathedral has long been a spiritual center for the nation, hosting presidential inaugural services and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last sermon there in 1968. The cathedral draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

In light of the legality of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia and now Maryland, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, decided in December to allow an expansion of the Christian marriage sacrament. The diocese covers the district and four counties in Maryland. The change is allowed under a "local option" granted by the church's General Convention, church leaders said. Each priest in the diocese can then decide whether to perform same-sex unions.

Poet Richard Blanco, a gay son of Cuban exiles who lived and studied in Miami, has been chosen as the inaugural poet for President Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony later this month.

The inaugural committee announced the choice on Wednesday.

“In many ways, this is the very ‘stuff’ of the American Dream, which underlies so much of my work and my life’s story—America’s story, really," Blanco said. "I am thrilled by the thought of coming together during this great occasion to celebrate our country and its people through the power of poetry.”